Crimson Roses
by Snowflake the Pegasus
Summary: Snowflake loses his faith and with the help of some friends finds his way. One-shot. Please review!


!WARNING! 

This program contains extremely adorable ponies that may be disturbing to some viewers. Viewer discretion is advised. 

(LOL I've always wanted to have that put on the opening of the show. voiced by the narrator from worlds wildest police videos; Sheriff John Bunnell. That would be funny.) 

Crimson Roses 

The last dying rays of Celestia's sunshine stained the clouds crimson as the building shook with huge tremors. Not from a earthquake, no, but from several huge speakers that were operated from a soundboard controlled by an off white Unicorn mare. Her head was bobbing up and down to the beat of the music making her electric blue mane dance along with the red, blue and green lasers. Her horn was alit with magic, the same pinkish red aura surround her soundboards making it glow in the fog. It was truly a site to behold. 

Vinyl looked up from her DJ booth, a wild grin spread across her face. "Awww yeahhhh! Are you bitches ready for these wubs of destruction!?" She screamed into the microphone. 

The ponies on the dance floor stomped there hooves and hollered in response. 

She slammed her hoof down on a red button and the entire club came to a screeching halt. No music, no lasers, no lights, nothing. You could have heard a pin drop. 

"Wubba dub dub motherfuckers." Vinyl said and she lifted her hoof up as the most bad ass bass drop rocked the club to its core. 

I sat at the bar of her nightclub, Club Pon-3, in downtown Canterlot. A few empty glasses sat in front of me, nothing alcoholic, just plain apple cider. I only got drunk once and that'll never happen again, something about waking up in the town park spooning with several empty muffin boxes. 

I smiled at the memory and shook my head lightly. I'll admit, that probably was the most fun I had in one night. Just not something I want to repeat anytime soon. I raised my empty glass to the bartender and signaled for another one. He brought me a full glass with an apple slice and took my empty one. 

I sighed; I need to get going soon but the thought of leaving this night club didn't appeal to me. It was kinda fun watching your drink vibrate across the bar and I was enjoying myself here, mostly. 

I was here because I needed change. I was stuck in a rut. More like a bottomless trench. My life only consisted of bucking fucking clouds and that was it. By the time the days over, I just want to go home and sleep. (Actually I want to drown myself in booze and then sleep). I do have a few days off a week but I tend to spend them in my bed resting. 

I looked down at my hooves, wondering if I should just order the strongest thing they have, set it on fire and down it. I'd pay for it later with a pounding headache, but right now I'd didn't care. The bracelet I was wearing caught my attention. It glowed in the dark and under the black lights that lined the bar, it look like there were a bunch of fireflies around my hoof. In big black letters it said "V.I.P." (Very Important Pony LOL) which meant that I had full access to the bar I was sitting at. Kinda of a waste really, seeing as I didn't order any alcohol, but they did have the best apple cider Straight from Sweet Apple Acres. 

I had gotten the bracelet from my cousin Nightshade. He was a trumpet player and would play at fancy restaurants or weddings. Sometimes he would just sit on the sidewalk and play just for fun. He had attracted the attention of a certain cellist when the lead trumpet player walked out a week before the concert. Needless to say he saved her big time and she gave him three of these bracelets. One for him, one for me and one for our other friend Shamrock. I don't know why we got one but hay, I wasn't gonna turn down a V.I.P. Pass to Club Pon-3, even if I didn't drink. 

I looked up and stated at the mirrors across from me, watching the pony looking back. My snow white fur was glowing brilliant white under the black lights making the rippling in my muscles along my back and forearms visible when I opened my wings. The black in my mane remained the same, but the ice blue stripes popped. My bright green eyes were glowing and they looked wicked. 

I smiled as I poured the last bit of cider into my mouth and savored the crisp, sweet taste as it went down. I threw a few bits on the counter for the bartender as a tip and he quickly scooped them up. It wasn't like in Ponyville were you could leave them and no one else would steal them. 

I pushed through the screaming mass of ponies that crowed the dance floor. Some were dancing in small groups, others making a fool of themselves and some being thrown out for being a hazard to others. Once outside, I could still feel the bass in the ground, not as strong as it was inside but enough to feel it in my hooves. The air was cool for a summer night, making a shiver run up my back and the ends of my wings twitch. The streets were busy with ponies going to and fro. A few of them gave me a dirty look, probably disgusted that I would even consider stepping hoof in a place like that. Others just simply gave a small smile and continued on with their business. The streets would clear out in a few hours, but the club behind me would party long into the night. 

I turned and started walking towards the train station. Not really wanting to go back, but I did have to work in the morning and I didn't want to be late. Of course it's not that big of a deal when your boss is the laziest one on the weather service. I had considered flying back to Ponyville but sometimes I'd just like to slow down a take it easy. Actually, I just wanted to take the longest amount of time getting back as possible. 

The train station was deserted when I arrived. The train didn't come for another hour but I picked a spot towards the end anyways and sat down, my head buzzing with thoughts. 

"I wonder if I could call in sick tomorrow..." The loud bang of a Unicorn teleporting ripped me from my thoughts. "EEP!" I screamed as I jumped back and felt my wings shoot out. 

Standing two feet away from me with a smug smile on his face was a dark blue Unicorn with a neon green mane. He had a silver trumpet for a Cutie Mark and was wearing a black suit coat with a white collar and matching tie. On his face he wore a pair of dark sunglasses even though the sun had set. This was one of my foal-hood friends and cousin, Nightshade. 

I could feel my face start to burn. Here I was was, a full grown stallion and I just screamed like a school filly. "One of these days, your gonna do that and I'm gonna die of a heart attack!" I said sternly, but couldn't help smiling as I tucked my wings back to my side. 

He smirked as the moonlight reflected off his glasses. "Guess I'll haft to try harder." 

"Go ahead and try that. I'll be up on a cloud, you can't get me up there." I responded, playfulness returning to my voice. 

"Don't haft to." He said waving a hoof dismissively. "They'll shock you for me."

I let out a groan and my ears flatten back. He'll never let me live that down. Once when I was a foal, I had just started to fly and landed on the first cloud I reach. It happened to be a stray thunder head and as soon as I touched it, I was sent flying, smoking and burnt. It took weeks for my fur to turn back snow white and almost a month for my tail to grow back properly. 

"You know, you look soooo cute when you make that pouty face. The way your bottom lip sticks out." Nightshade teased. 

"Shut. Up." I growled as I shot him a death glare. 

"Alright, alright." He said as he put his front hooves up in surrender. "No need to shot me with daggers." 

"Anyways... what are you doing here?" I asked, my voice returning to normal and trying to change the subject. 

"Shamrock and I came looking for you." 

"Shamrock? He's here? Were at?" I asked, looking around. 

"Beats me." Nightshade shrugged. "Last I saw of him, he went looking for you at Donut Joe's... But is more likely stuffing himself with them." 

Shamrock was my other foal-hood friend. He was a bright green earth pony with a safety orange mane and tail. His Cutie Mark was a dark green lucky clover but the funny thing was, his luck was horrible. 

"Him and his love for donuts... It's almost as bad as Ditzy's love for muffins!" I laughed, shaking my head, my anger at him forgotten. 

"Yea just like Ditzy... Or you." Nightshade said clearly remembering the whole "muffin" incident. 

"So anyways, why were you looking for me?" I asked ignoring him. 

"Well, it's Wednesday, your day off and your sister hadn't seen you all day. She worries about you, you know." 

It's true. I've have been in Canterlot all day. Taking in the sights of the city and visiting my old stomping grounds. My sister and I had been born in Cloudsdale but moved to Canterlot when we were young. 

"Yea I know she does. It's just that I needed to get away for a bit. I toured the city and visited are old neighborhood. I also went to club Pon-3 for a bit, made use of this bracelet you gave me." I said holding it up. 

"Are you feeling ok? You, doing something on your day off beside sleeping?" Nightshade gasped playfully. 

"Yea I know... I must be sick. Come on then, let's go get Shamrock before he has a donut coronary." I laughed. 

"Totally. Hey by the way, Do you know what's snow white and green all over?" Nightshade asked. 

"Umm... no... A newspaper?" 

"No, you teleporting." 

"But I can't..." 

BOOM! 

I never finished my sentence before he placed his hoof on my shoulder and I felt my insides being turned inside out. When the world stopped spinning, I was standing in the donut shop. 

A few of other customers gave us a dirty look. I shot them a apologetic look and mouthed sorry. 

"Nope. He's not here." Nightshade said as he placed his hoof back on me. 

"On no. Wait...I!" I started to yell. 

BOOM! 

I was now standing in some part of the city. I wasn't sure where I was because the building seemed to be at three places at once. 

"WILL YOU STOP THAT!" I bellowed loud enough to probably give the royal Canterlot voice some competition. A few ponies on the streets turned to look as us. 

"I REFUSE TO BE TELEPORTED..." 

BOOM! 

...around." 

It was pitch black and drenching rain. Even by the crazy standards of weather that came out of Cloudsdale and the Everfree Forest, this was abnormal. 

For the record, getting smacked in the face with huge raindrops while flying isn't very fun, in fact, it really stings. This was proving to be the highlight of what was probably the most miserable work day I'd ever had since joining the weather service. 

Dark storm clouds were so thick that it was blocking the stars and moon. Poof! The dark storm cloud dissolve into water vapor as my rear hooves slammed into it, but three more seemed to take its place. I let out a groan. This was proving to be futile. The Everfree Forests seemed hell bent on make twice as more storm clouds then the weather service could dissipate. 

I guess that's what you get when your town is on the edge of the most magical forest in Equestria. The weather around the forest does it own thing and is not controlled by Pegasi. 

Poof! Another cloud fell victim to my hooves. When I had gotten home from Canterlot with Nightshade and Shamrock (apparently he had been in the restroom of the donut shop the whole time) A mandatory weather meeting had been called and almost every Pegasus in Ponyville was out here destroying these pesky clouds. 

To my right were Cloudchaser and Flitter working as a team. They seemed to be able to take out two or three at a time. To my left were Cloudkicker and Thunderlane. They were goofing off more than bucking clouds. Thunderlane was just a black blur as Cloudkicker chased him. 

Some ponies thought Thunderlane and me were brothers. We had the same style mane cut and same build but that was where the similarities ended. 

I set myself up in front of another dark stork cloud. I hated bucking clouds, doing the same thing over and over again. It was tedious. I didn't want to be out here in the drenching rain. I wanted to be home reading a book or something. Anything! Hell, I'd even shave my mane off to get out of this. Oh well. I pulled my rear hooves in to give it my all, hoping to release some anger. 

"Oh no! Wait!" 

A high pitch voice yelled behind me. I quickly turned around looked. Surprised, there was nothing I could see in the pouring rain besides the dark cloud. 

"Hold on." The voice squeaked again as the cloud moved. "Shadow-clone jutsu!" The cloud yelled as it moved around and then a poof of smoke later, there were about a dozen more black clouds. 

"I'm going to be the best Hokage there is! Believe it!" The black clouds hollered in unison. 

My left eye twitched and I grit my teeth. There was only one pony I knew that loved that ninja cartoon and I was gonna have his flank on a silver platter when I was done with him. 

"NIGHTSHADE! 

The sun was well above the horizon by the time the last cloud was obliterated. It had taken all night and reinforcements from Cloudsdale to contain and knock out the storm. 

Ponyville had taken the brunt of it, trees lay on their side, leaves and branches scattered everywhere, even some building had damage. But the Earth Ponies and Unicorns of Ponyville were busy cleaning and making repairs. The Unicorns were using their magic to push brooms and sweep up twigs and leaves. The Earth Ponies were busy cleaning up the fallen trees and making repairs to the damaged buildings. 

I sat by the main road leading out of town, having just seen off the Pegasi from Cloudsdale with Rainbow Dash. She looked exhausted. Her mane was a mess, she had bags under her eyes and she was walking instead of flying. As she left, the tip of her multicolored tail left a trail in the dirt. Rainbow had just sent me home, We had today and tomorrow off to rest. 

"She must be tired if the fasted pegasus in Equestria is walking." I thought to myself. 

I too was beyond exhausted, my wings were numb, and my back legs stiff and sore. Everything hurt. But yet, I didn't want to go home. I didn't want to go home and rest just so I could start bucking clouds again. I swear to Discord himself, if I see another cloud anytime soon I'm going to come unglued. 

I stared off in the direction of the road leaving Ponyville, wondering if I should leave this all behind. Go and make a new life. Start somewhere fresh. 

I had lost my faith, faith in my friends, in my work and most importantly, in myself. I didn't know how to move forward, how to get out of this rut and enjoy life. I felt trapped. Stuck. I felt like giving up and flying away. I felt like I had no purpose being here. I let out a sigh and gave my head a shake; I was over tired and not thinking clearly. I slowly turned around and dragged my hooves back home were I think I was a sleep before my head hit the pillow. 

I woke up the same way the next morning, tired and confused. I made my way into the bathroom and turned on the shower, my body protesting in pain as I climbed in. My back was still stiff along with my wings. My rear hooves... Ugh. I didn't even want to think about them. 

I sat under the hot water for about 45 minutes trying to loosen the knots before it became cold and I had to get out. 

A quick dry off and I limped painfully down the stairs. When I entered the kitchen I poured myself a hot cup of coffee and then sat at the table. 

I clung to the cup of coffee praying "Luna, won't you show me the way" and then out in the distance, I saw through the window, a pony pulling a plow with a dog in the field. 

The dog walked just liked he was smiling. The pony pulled on like the world was alright and the birds hummed on like part of a song you'd sing to your foals at night. 

Her work was laid out before her, in rows of trees her whole life was revealed. 

What I would give if I could just live, like a pony pulling a plow with a dog in a field. 

I sat there watching and wondering for a while before I heard Lilly's soft hoofsteps as she came in and sat by me. Lilly was a snow white Pegasus like myself, but she had a very light pink with yellow mane. Her Cutie Mark was a white and yellow Lilly. 

"You know," Lilly started, pulling my eyes away from the window "It's not about living another pony's life, it's about seeing your own differently." 

"Wh-what?" I said kinda shocked. How she'd know! Is it that obvious?! 

"What I mean is," she tried to explain. Seeing the bewilder look on my face. "What more could you ask for in life that would make you happy?" 

I stopped and thought about it. What more could I yield. I had a home, friends, a job, and a loving sister. What more could I want? 

Lilly reached over and placed her hoof on the side of my face, her sunshine colored eyes sparkled with affectation "like I said, there more than one way to live then like a pony pulling a plow and with a dog in a field." 

My eyes widen and then seemed to take on faint pictures of happy memories from my life as I remember them. Every time I thought of a new one, they flip to that one. Soon they started scrolling rapidly in between them to the point that it was a blur. 

At the bottom of my rear hooves, a waive line started to form. Like a water line in a clear bucket. It rose up my back legs, over my tail, across by back, down my front hooves and up my neck to my head. As this line moved, it restored the dull color in me and made me shine brighter. 

I felt better. No, I felt great! Better than I had in months. The gray mist that seems to have formed in my head was gone. I felt happy, like I could do anything I wanted. And it was all thinks to my sister. I reached across the table and pulled her in to an embrace. "Thank you." I whispered to her as she returned it. 

The last dying rays of Celestia's sunshine stained the clouds crimson as the building shook with huge tremors. Not from a earthquake, no, but from several huge speakers that were operated from a soundboard controlled by an off white Unicorn mare. Her head was bobbing up and down to the beat of the music making her electric blue mane dance along with the red, blue and green lasers. Her horn was alight with magic, the same pinkish red aura surround her soundboard making it glow in the fog. It was truly a site to behold. 

I sat at a VIP table of her nightclub, Club Pon-3, in downtown Canterlot. At the table was my sister Lilly, my best friends Nightshade and Shamrock, along Cloudchaser and Flitter. 

I held up my glass of apple sider, "Here's to friendship!" I hollered above the extremely loud music. 

"To friendship!" They hollered back as their glasses clanked off one another's. 

"To friendship" I said quietly to myself. "To friendship, because friendship is truly magic." 

The end! 

A.N.

Hi everypony! Thanks for stopping by and reading this story. It means so much that you took time out of your day (or night) to give this story a shot. (Hope I did alright. eek!) 

So anyways, if any of you caught the song I used it was "A man on a tractor by Rodney Atkins. He owns it not me. And no, Snowflake wasn't singing it. Yes, the pony in the field was Applejack if you didn't figure it out. I in NO WAY INTEND to make a profit off this story. It is solely for interment only. MY LITTLE PONY, and all related characters are trademarks of HASBRO and are used without permission. 

The four OCs I used I plan to write more with, maybe where Shamrock has a speaking part.


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